When the Sky Wept
by Discord1
Summary: One cold raining night, where the streets of a ravaged city pool with blood and the sound of gunfire echoes into the darkness, a small, tear-stained girl meets a lavender-haired man who promises to never let anyone hurt her again. An AU T/P epic.


When the Sky Wept  
By: Discord  
  
A/N: Welcome to the beginnings of my T/P epic!  
  
**Please note that for my purposes all Saiya-jins are actually human. That means no super strength, no tails, no nothing**  
  
On with the fic...  
  
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~ CHAPTER 1 - A Shattered World ~  
  
The sky poured down sheets of soaking gray and a bleached, withered look had strangled itself around the city. Rain fell in heavy determination and its cold sting seeped into the shadowed streets of Asa.   
  
A legion of men cloaked in black stood outside the city's gates, the bulge of guns in their arms. Their grave faces all looked the same, set in lines of unyielding resolve.  
  
"Go forth, for the glory of Deus!" One soldier, swallowed in the mass, thrust his fist high into the air and a cry rose up from the mouths around him. Their roar carried through the mob and choked off even the storm. And then the click of hundreds of safeties being turned off echoed into the dark night.  
  
The men raised their guns and without hesitation, ran forward, scaling over the top of the drenched gates. They climbed as if the slick and the rain meant nothing and as soon as their feet touched the ground they spread out and fanned themselves among dark houses and neighborhoods, closing in on targets.  
  
Above the drone of rain, screams and fevered footsteps began to bloody the night. Black figures crashed into homes and the residents of Asa City cried out as the glint of automated weapons were pointed at their heads. The sound of gunfire mingled with anguished howls and crimson rivers began to wash out of doorways into Asa's drenched alleys.   
  
Despite the torrential rains pounding ruthlessly down from the night sky, the storm was not enough to quench the invader's torches. They set light to dozens of homes and there was no warning as the torches crashed through windows, glass shattering on the faces of sleeping children. The fires grew together into a raging monster all around Asa and the entire city quickly became alight in flame.  
  
One young man stumbled from his burning home, trying frantically to escape the blaze with a child in his arms. The man's purple hair was matted with blood and he pushed wet lavender bangs from his face as he struggled to carry the limp body against his chest.  
  
"Come on sis, we're gonna make it, just hold on." He hefted the girl's small body up higher and got to his feet. Ignoring the stab of pain in his left calf, he staggered away from the orange light surrounding his whole neighborhood.  
  
The young man carried his sister only a few paces before his leg gave out and he fell. The split bone refused to support him any longer and he toppled over onto the child in his arms. The man lay with his face to the cool pavement for a moment and saw blood immediately pooling under her small body. He blinked in surprise and slowly raised his head.   
  
He noticed the girl's blue hair was stained with red and looked down at the foreign color in alarm.  
  
"Bra," he whispered softly. "Bra, wake up, we have to get out of here." The man leaned over her, gently shaking her frail shoulders. "Come on, get up." His eyes passed over the bullet hole in her chest and denial clouded his vision. "Why are you doing this to me?" The young man's face filled with hurt and he touched his sister's cool cheek tenderly. "Open your eyes Bra. Please sis, please wake up." Tears began to spill down his jaw and grabbing her shirt, he buried his face in her chest. Trunks' shoulders shook with sobs as the truth hit him full force that this was his baby sister lying dead in the street, surrounded by her own blood.   
  
* * * * *  
  
"Pan! Come here honey, quick!" Gohan gestured for his daughter in the dark, and the scared 8-year-old hurried to her father. Despite her age she could tell something was wrong from the loud chaos crashing around outside. Videl came up behind Pan and slipped a jacket on over the girl's shoulders. The older woman turned her daughter around and began buttoning up the coat; casting worried glances at her husband as the commotion outside seemed to stop in front of their door.  
  
"Mommy, what is it?" Pan felt her mother's fear and Videl took the girl's hand. She held on tightly to the small palm and moved towards Gohan, who began to make his way to the back of the house.  
  
"We're going to take a little trip Panny. Don't worry, just follow us." Her father led their procession through the dark house and Pan felt her mother squeeze her hand reassuringly.  
  
A sudden bang on the front door echoed through the halls and the heavy sound punched into the Son family's silence.  
  
Her parents froze and Pan looked up at them in surprise.  
  
"Who is it?" She asked timidly.  
  
"Get moving!" Gohan pushed his wife and daughter in front of him and they all began to run.  
  
Angry yells from outside rang with lurid curses and Videl slowed her stride, covering Pan's ears. The girl shook in sudden fear, realizing people were trying to break into their house.  
  
"Daddy, are they going to get inside?" Pan's lower lip trembled and Gohan stared down at his daughter, a look of sadness on his face. He forced a smile and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.  
  
"No, of course not. Daddy will make sure they don't come near you or Mommy." Gohan rested his hand on Pan's shoulder and Videl's mouth dropped open, catching on to what her husband was thinking.  
  
"You promise?" Pan's face lit up with relief and adoration and her father nodded.  
  
Videl started shaking her head and Gohan met his wife's eyes in brave determination. He reached for her and then jumped as a ramming started up against the front door.   
  
"Go." Gohan whispered.  
  
"No, we'll all make it out together." Videl shook her head again and the banging outside intensified.  
  
"Please Videl, get her out of here." Gohan nodded towards Pan and gave his wife a pleading look. "I'll give you two all the extra time I can."  
  
"No...." She wavered and looked down at their daughter, who stared up at both of them with wide eyes.  
  
The front door fell open with a tremendous crash and a troupe of shadowed men stomped into the Son living room.  
  
"You have to leave now! Save Pan!" Gohan bunched his fists and faced the oncoming danger.  
  
Videl didn't look back. She held her daughter's hand and ran down the hallway into the next room. The woman heard gunfire a moment later and her heart leapt to her throat at the sound of a body sliding to the floor. The world blurred with her tears and Videl slowed. Doubts crowded her mind and she stopped. Footsteps rumbled in the hallway and she knew they wouldn't have enough time to escape, they needed another distraction.  
  
"Pan," Videl whispered.  
  
The little girl beside her stared up at her mother and a new terror came over her small body as she saw an unwavering resolution set the woman's features.  
  
"Pan, I'm so sorry baby, but I won't be able to stay here with you. I'm going to go help your father take care of these bad men. I want you to run out the back kitchen door. Don't stop and don't look back." Videl bent down and shook her daughter's shoulders. "Do you understand? You have to go alone. And you have to go now." The woman shoved Pan towards the door at the other end of the room and turned back the way they had come.  
  
"But Mommy..." Pan grabbed her mother's orange shirtsleeve as tears welled up in her eyes.  
  
"Go Pan! Now!" Videl pushed her daughter away and her sleeve ripped apart as the child refused to let go. Pan found herself holding onto only a piece of orange cloth and she reached her hand out to her mother's back.  
  
"Mommy..."  
  
Gunfire sounded again, closer this time and Pan's mouth dropped open.  
  
Videl took a step forward. "Run," she whispered and her daughter turned and stumbled away.  
  
Pan got to the kitchen and burst outside. The girl heard a woman's cry come from inside, just once. It was cut short by the muffled sound of bullets and then Pan was running.  
  
She ran and ran, never turning to look, holding the torn sleeve to her chest. Her mother's last words echoed through her head and Pan's world blurred with her tears.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Where are you woman!?" The older man turned in a circle with his arm over his mouth to avoid breathing in the smoke. He searched the fiery inferno for his wife, looking for her familiar head of blue hair among the blazing interior of their house. He had watched his son carry Bra out and hoped his children were both safe. The man had stayed back to look for their mother and now whirled around, searching wildly for her.  
  
"Bulma!! Bulma, where are you?!" He called out her name and this time, a female voice answered back, faintly reaching his ears through the roaring fire.  
  
"Vegeta..."  
  
The man rushed towards the sound and found his fallen wife, trapped in a corner. A cabinet beginning to burn had crashed down on her chest, pinning her to the floor.  
  
"Vegeta, I'm stuck. I-I can't get out." Blood covered one side of her face and the woman looked up at him weakly.  
  
"Hold on, I'll get you out." Vegeta grabbed the underside of the furniture, ignoring its heat, and pulled with all his strength. Bulma lay her head down and he could see her hampered chest laboring to rise and fall. His face grew red from the exertion and the cabinet slowly began to rise in his straining arms.  
  
At the other end of the house, the fire licked its way outside and found a propane tank beside a tool shed. All was quiet for a moment as the curious flames brushed against the cool white metal.  
  
The tank exploded.  
  
The resulting fireball shook the Brief house and its walls blew open. Vegeta was thrown away from his wife a hundred feet into the air and he landed in the paved street, unconscious. Debris from the walls fell around him and burning hunks of plaster dropped down on other buildings, spreading the fire even further.  
  
Trunks turned to watch in horror as his house erupted in a flash of light and he staggered forward in shock. He caught a glimpse of his father as the man's charred shadow sailed through the wet night sky and landed several yards away. Vegeta groaned on impact and the sound carried through the rain, a sign that he was still alive.  
  
Trunks limped towards his father, tears still clinging to his eyes over Bra and new streaks for his mother who was now beyond rescue. He raced over and bending down, began to dig the older man out of the wreckage. His voice caught in his throat as he shoveled away debris, feeling blood in his hands. Lifting the last pieces of drywall, Trunks felt around on Vegeta's neck for a pulse and was reassured when he found the strong, steady beat. The young man could see his father had suffered a blow to the head and was unconscious, but still alive.  
  
"I have to get him out of here before they find us," Trunks whispered aloud, surprised at the sound of his own voice. It was a stranger's, coarse with pain.  
  
All around him there was a growing stillness, filled only with the crackling of ravaged homes and the dull drone of the fading storm. The screams of his neighbors and friends had tapered off and now only the occasional rip of gunfire cut into the staccato of rain.  
  
Trunks was about to lift his father into his arms when he saw a darting form come streaking out through the darkness. It was a small girl, scorched and covered in tears, running blindly. She held something tightly to her chest and her hiccuping sobs carried all the way through the rain. Trunks stood as the child neared and his face broke with compassion as she stumbled towards him, raven hair wild and dark eyes drowning in sadness. She raced forward a few more paces and stopped right at his feet, eyes wide and body trembling.  
  
"P-Please..."   
  
Trunks heard the soft voice in the dying rain and crouched to her level, ignoring the scream from his leg.  
  
"P-Please help me." Tears dripped down the child's chin and Trunks, driven by a sudden paternal instinct, held out his arms. He tried to rouse a smile of reassurance but it failed all the way in the back of his throat and the young man settled for swallowing it down.  
  
Seeing the outstretched arms, the girl cried out in relief and rushed into Trunks, almost knocking him over. Burying her face in his shoulder she sobbed out her pain and torment and he gently stroked her hair, murmuring softly in her ear.  
  
Trunks could feel the weary set of the girl's frail shoulders and it spurred his voice forward.  
  
"What's your name sweetheart?" He pulled her back a bit and looked into her cinder-covered face, noticing the indecisiveness there. She was desperate to trust him but wary.  
  
"Please don't be a bad-guy," she whispered, clutching at his shoulders.  
  
"I'm not," Trunks shook his head and gently set his hands on her small hips. "Now what's your name?"  
  
She saw the sincerity and concern on the man's face and swallowed hard. She'd break Daddy's rule of not talking to stranger's just this once.   
  
"Pan."  
  
"Well I'm Trunks, nice to meet you," a shadow of a smile crossed his face at the characteristic response in this living, burning hell and he saw the girl was comforted by the familiar phrase.  
  
"How would you like to get out of here Pan?" Trunks asked, reaching over and wiping at some of the ash on her cheek.  
  
Pan nodded and held her arms above her head, asking without words to be picked up. Trunks obliged and hoisted her up off the ground, one hand around her legs and the other on her waist. He leaned heavily on his right leg and bit his lip to keep from crying out at the pain that jabbed from his left. He remembered with an equal agony that he had carried Bra the very same way countless times after she had fallen asleep on the couch and needed to be brought to bed.  
  
"I'll protect you Pan, you don't have to be afraid anymore."   
  
The girl leaned into his chest and closed her eyes, giving into her exhaustion. Trunks smoothed down her hair and leaned his cheek against her head, taking a deep breath to steal away the image of his sister's body lying in the street.  
  
All around them, Asa was ablaze and its residents lay in the streets, surrounded by their own blood.  
  
And the rain continued to fall, washing away their red.  
  
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A/N: So, that's the first chapter, I hope it wasn't too sad for you readers. I probably should have braced you guys more. Poor Trunks-kun and Pan-chan =(. 


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